


Breaking Point

by earlywritings (welcometolotr)



Category: Naruto
Genre: /is forced, Hurt/Comfort, Itachi comes back to Konoha, Light Romance, M/M, Manly Tears, Mental Breakdown, also poor kakashi, either way everybody wins, except itachi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-26
Updated: 2013-05-26
Packaged: 2017-12-13 00:18:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 19,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/817730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/welcometolotr/pseuds/earlywritings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Konoha is in crisis, and Tsunade has only one answer: Uchiha. Sending Kakashi out to find the elusive killer, she unknowingly establishes a relationship between the two that will last as long as they live. The question is, is it founded on love...or hate?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Lit Fuse

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally published on ffnet back in '09/'10 but is still (somehow) consistently popular, so I'm putting it up here. Enjoy!

Tsunade frowned. _I don't want to have to do this, but I really have no choice. It's got to be done._

Leaning over her desk, she sighed, placing her head in her hands. "Shizune."

Head jerking up from the papers she was studying, the assistant pushed her chair out from under the desk and stood up, staring at the lady Hokage in confusion. "Yes, milady? Is there something I can do for you?"

"I know I just assigned you a project, but this takes precedence. Please find Kakashi Hatake and bring him to me. And no wasting hours trying to find him, either. He'll either be at the memorial stone or training with his team. I want him standing here within the next five minutes!"

"Yes, of course, lady Tsunade! I'll go find him!" She turned and ran out the door, the force of her boss' will propelling her feet. _Five minutes?!? Does she think I'm superhuman? He could be anywhere! I'm not dealing with a regular jounin here. If it was that important, couldn't she have sent Jiraiya? Aaah! My lady, why do you make my job so hard?!?_

_-_

Kakashi sighed as he turned a page. Sure, Icha-Icha was relaxing, but really. There wasn't anything in particular to relax from. Nothing was going on in the village from the citizen's point of view, and the ninjas had dispensed with the tension that had run through their ranks for weeks after the announcement of war between Konoha and Iwa. And after Sand had allied with the land of fire, the tension had dissipated even more. But as the White Fang had always told Kakashi, It was probably the 'calm before the storm.'

He yawned and stretched, eyeing the field in front of him. _Is that Shizune? What could she want with me?_

Shizune ran down the path to the lazing jounin, panting from the exertion of hurrying around town as fast as she could.

"Kakashi-san," she gasped, bending over and putting her hands on her knees for support. "Lady Tsunade requests your presence. And _now._ Before she has the chance to yell at me some more!"

Kakashi sighed and pushed himself up.

_Time to visit the wicked witch of the west._

-

"We don't have the yellow flash. We don't have the police force's pride and joy; the Uchiha. We don't have a cohesive Hyuuga clan, and Naruto and the rest of the rookie nine can't possibly be prepared for war, no matter how amazing they seem to be. _We are in trouble._ Good ANBU have been sparse since Orochimaru's invasion three years ago and it takes years to train successful operatives.

"We are reinstating Team Assassin into the ANBU Espionage division." Tsunade finished.

Kakashi balked. "What?!"

"We are reinstating Team Assassin into the-"

"No, no, I heard you. But why? And how? That's both physically and mentally nigh on impossible to accomplish, seeing as one is near _insane_ and the other could be _anywhere_ killing _anyone!_ And for gods sake _stop calling us that!_ " Kakashi stopped himself before he could say any more in his infuriated state. How could she do this to them? They had been through so much together and taken so much damage!

But maybe that was the key. That they had been through so much _together._ That they worked cohesively, perfectly. It was certainly true that when they were together in ANBU years ago that they had been the best team in the village. Some said that they had even surpassed the Sannin in teamwork and ability to complete a mission – before Orochimaru left, of course.

Itachi was the small, Kakashi the medium, and Ibiki the large. Their skills worked out that way too – Itachi was a Genjutsu specialist, perhaps the best in the village. His skills at blending in and assuming roles for spying were better than anyone's. Kakashi had knowledge of thousands of jutsus, utilizing every one when they were needed. Ninjutsu was mostly left to him in a jack-of-all-trades sort of way. And Ibiki was the Taijutsu specialist. He was the best in the village, training genin and jounin alike. Of course, when Gai came along, Morino taught him so well that the young ninja quickly surpassed him. But Ibiki had the subtle skills needed for ANBU Espionage and a knack for torture and interrogation, especially after his own torture at multiple hands after a botched mission.

They were legend. And now, they were being forced back together.

_Team Assassin, hmph. That was a stupid nickname that we all hated. It brings up memories that would be better buried deep inside my mind…but I suppose that is what ANBU is all about. Cold efficiency - on the outside, at least._

_Whatever happens, I don't envy the one sent to retrieve Itachi. He's been scarred in so many ways by everything he's been through. And I don't know how on earth they're going to convince Ibiki – He's suffered as well. And he's perfectly happy with his job in Torture and Interrogation._

_And me…Do I even want to rejoin them in ANBU? I had originally submitted my name after Obito was killed, but I have so much to live for now. I've been avoiding active duty with them for years, as has Ibiki, but is it time to give in and let them control me again? The ANBU Hound…Is this the breaking point? Do we even_ have _a choice?_

_I suppose not._

"Kakashi? Hello?"

He snapped back to the reality when he heard Tsunade calling him. "Yes?"

"Oh, good. I lost you for a minute. I'm really sorry this has to happen, but there's no other complete ANBU team as qualified and as whole as you three.

"Hokage-san, the three of us might be physically able, but mentally we're in shambles. I'm not going to explain everything to you seeing as you'd probably send us to a psychiatrist, – please don't do that by the way, it'd interfere with my Icha-Icha reading – but you have to understand that we might not be as able as we once were. I'm sure we'd be able to get the mission done quickly and efficiently, but afterwards…how do I say this.

"I take it you're aware of what ANBU call 'breaks'?" Kakashi asked her.

"Yes, I've heard them mentioned. Why?" she answered confusedly.

"Do you know what they refer to; what it means when somebody is 'taking a break'?" He asked her in response, his expression completely serious.

"I assumed it referred to vacations or breaks from duty to recover from injuries. Am I wrong?" she questioned, wondering why it was so important or even relevant to their conversation.

"'Taking a break' refers to an ANBU operative that has cracked or broken mentally before, during, or after a mission. Every ANBU has a different method and everyone on their team and hopefully everyone in their division knows it – the more that know the better. That way if somebody's showing signs of cracking, we can remove them from duty for however long it normally takes them to break and recover. It happens after large or prolonged mental trauma – which, in ANBU, is a weekly, if not daily, occurrence.

"Itachi, Ibiki and I were quite good at keeping it bottled up, but every six months or so one of us would break, and because we kept it closed up for so long it took us a week or more to recover. Most break every three or four months and only need two or three days.

"But if you pull us back into ANBU now… The severe trauma that we've experienced over the years, coupled with the pure instability of our mental states – the others more than me – breaking is apt to occur much more often. At the best, once every two months or so. At worst…I estimate once every two weeks.

"So if you're really, truly set on this decision…Be careful. We'll be on edge. Brittle. Breakable. In other words, you can give us any and every mission you can, but watch your step. If you pick a bad time, we're liable to blow up in your face.

"But no harsh feelings, right?" he finished with a grim smile.

Tsunade stared at the man across her desk. Had he just threatened her or warned her? Or was it both? _He's right, though. He's mentally unstable._

_But I need them, so I'll have to deal with it and heed his warnings. I'll also have to ask about their individual symptoms leading to their breaking._

_Why did I accept this job again? And at my age too. Maybe I should add my name to the list of completely insane nin in Konoha._

"Kakashi Hatake, you have a new mission."

_Oh gods no. She wouldn't._

"You are to retrieve Itachi Uchiha from his place in Akatsuki and you have a week to do it. You leave tonight." Tsunade declared in a firm voice. "You are dismissed."

All the blood drained from Kakashi's face as he stared at her.

_I can't believe it. She's worse than Orochimaru!_

He groaned as he poofed away in the classic clone jutsu style. Kakashi knew himself, and because of that he hoped he wouldn't find Itachi tomorrow – he'd still be steaming. Give himself a couple days to think it over and then…well, Tsunade was probably right.

_I still don't want to do it, though._

\--

-


	2. Retrieval

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi plays fetch.

Kakashi cursed. Why did it have to come to this? There were at least ten other Konoha ninja that could have handled this mission. It wasn't like they needed a Sharingan user specifically. But no, Tsunade just had to have him do the dirty work.

In all truth, it was probably because she wanted somebody that had been close to Itachi to contact him...and if he thought about it, it did make sense. The only other member of their original team besides him and Itachi was Ibiki, and since he was currently indisposed on a complex interrogation... Kakashi frowned at the thought.

_And really, it's not like Sasuke can be trusted with the safe return of his older brother. Maybe the safe return of his older brother's body, sure. But not his living, breathing, clan-killing brother._

_That certainly wouldn't have ended well._

Kakashi sighed. _Might as well get this ordeal over with. I just need to think of a way to distract the shark while I talk to Itachi. Hmm. ANBU signals might work if I jut wanted to tell Itachi I needed to talk to him. But I would need the geography of the land and the position of the shark before I could even begin setting up signals. I'll have to figure out how to clear that hurdle when I get to it._

\---

He stopped suddenly, feet skidding across the wet branch before finding purchase on the old wood. He crouched and surveyed the area around him, senses prickling.

_Something's off..._

He swung himself down to the ground, branch by branch, landing noiselessly on his feet. Straightening up, he immediately realized what was wrong. There was no birdsong, no animal noises.

It was much too quiet. Unnaturally so. And as any ninja worth their stuff could tell you…

_That's not good._

Stepping much more carefully in light of his newly bred paranoia, he leapt back onto a branch and resumed his path toward the last known sighting of the pair of Akatsuki known as Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki. Within minutes he could smell the heavy, rank scent of blood mixed with the rot of death.

 _Ah. That must be them. Were they attacked? Or_ did _they attack?_

He came to a stop in front of a clearing perpetuated with corpses. They lay scattered about in sordid positions suggesting that they were tortured to death. They were clearly ninja, as their weapons lay on the ground next to them and their headbands showed the symbol of the mist.

_Gotta be the shark. The Sharingan operates completely inside the victim's mind; there wouldn't be any outward signs of struggle. And Itachi's certainly not one for physical torture. But the headbands…Mist? The Mizukage must still be hunting for Hoshigaki. That's one hell of a grudge._

Blood was spattered about the clearing, dying the surrounding trees red. But what really drew his eye were the two bodies in the middle. Lying next to each other, with one's head at the other's feet, were his targets. Kakashi was seized with fear for a brief second, worried that the previous fight had killed the Uchiha. Taking a moment to calm his fiercely beating heart, he stepped over the corpses one by one until he reached the young man and knelt down softly in the dirt. Removing the heavy Akatsuki cloak, he pressed his fingers to the pale neck and relaxed. The pulse was light, but it was there.

_He must have lost a huge amount of blood – I don't know what else would put him in this state. The Itachi Uchiha that I know would never go down from simple cuts and chakra exhaustion._

Kakashi pulled away from the nin and realized that that he was, indeed, lying in a dark pool of blood.

_So I was right, then. But where...?_

Struck by a hidden suspicion, he reached around the slim young man and turned him over, pulling the cloak off the rest of the way.

_Shit._

_Oh man. Itachi…_

There was a dark, bloody gash ripped three inches deep across Itachi's back. It began at his right shoulder and stretched to the left side of his waist, continuing down his hip and part of his leg. Bone was clearly visible, though it didn't appear as though his spine had been cut.

_How on earth did he manage to get this? If I don't get him treatment soon he'll die. Painfully, too._

_The Hokage would kill me._

_Ibiki would kill me._

I _would kill me._

He groaned under his ANBU mask and pulled the cloak back over the unconscious nin, turning him over carefully and wrapping him securely in the thick material.

_I probably shouldn't move him more than is needed._

Keeping the thought in mind as he gathered up the missing-nin, Kakashi began to move through the trees at a fast pace back toward Konoha. Looking down and studying the young man's face, he was surprised to see that the years hadn't altered the way his long eyelashes and pale skin lent him a china doll-like look. His apparent fragility was still there, enhanced by his slim body and long bangs fanning out over his face. The act, the show, the completely convincing _performance_ that he had kept up for so long was completely destroyed with one glance. No trace of the cold murderer that he had been portraying was left.

Oh yes. Kakashi was well aware of the truth of the Uchiha massacre. The youth hated killing, for god's sake! There was no way, no matter how infuriating clan and political machinations got, that Itachi would ever kill them all in a night of coldly calculated murder. Oh, sure, there _was_ a killing intent in the youth, but it was the same with all shinobi over genin level, no matter how peaceful or young they were.

When Kakashi had heard of the assignment given to the young heir that night, he had been infuriated. Oh, he could understand the reasoning behind it - have a double agent intimately familiar with the workings of the clan, the use of mangekyou sharingan to counteract the ordinary sharingan he'd encounter... The list went on and on, and he'd been forced to agree. But that didn't mean he didn't feel rage toward the people that had created this situation - Madara, Fugaku, Danzou, Sandaime...They had all aided the cause and effect in some way. And because of it, a veritable _child_ had been forced to kill his friends, parents, and clan members to become an S-ranked missing nin tracked by every shinobi nation for ten years. Kakashi was eight years older than Itachi and he didn't think - no, he _knew_ \- that he'd never have been able to do, at twenty-one, what Itachi had done at thirteen.

A kunai embedded itself in the tree trunk ahead of him.

Kakashi slid to a halt, the back of his neck prickling.

_Not good. This situation is not in my favor. I need to concentrate if I want to bring us both back alive._

A survivor of the massacre that the two Akatsuki had perpetrated had clearly come back to revenge his comrades…or to finish the job.

_Shit._

\---

\--


	3. Evasion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Missing-nin suck, especially when they happen to be after you.

Kakashi shifted his mind into his fallback locate-and-kill mode from the days of Team Assassin and dropped into a crouch.

_Where could they be? How many are there? There's a stand of trees behind me and a clearing ahead. I need to push them toward the clearing as fast as possible._

The thoughts ran through his head in the well-oiled process he was used to as he attempted to discern what condition the enemy forces were in.

 _I'm at peak condition, but if I'm right, the shinobi attacking me will have already fought Itachi and Kisame and hopefully have been wounded._  
Wounded….  
Blood.

Placing the man in his arms on the tree trunk in a lithe movement, Kakashi swiftly erected a barrier, keeping alert for any noises from the trees around them aside from animal sounds. Dropping to the ground and kneeling in the long grass surrounding the trees, he put his thumb up to his mouth and bit into it, drawing blood. Flicking open a pocket in his flak vest with the other hand and pulling out a small scroll, he unraveled it with a skilled flourish and dragged his bleeding thumb across the characters, sending chakra though the summoning link.  
With a poof, Kakashi was immediately surrounded by his handpicked set of nin-dogs ranging from Pakkun, the smallest and most well known, to Bull, the largest and…well, largest. That's pretty much all he was.

"Pakkun. I have an unknown number of hopefully wounded enemies trailing myself and the unconscious guy twenty feet up the tree. I need you and the rest to locate them and subdue as many as possible." Kakashi sighed. "Please send a runner to tell me all you can find out. And remember: if they're too strong you have to pull out. I don't want to lose any of you."

Pakkun nodded a yes and waited for his master to continue.

"Disperse!" Kakashi gave the needed reply and all the dogs shot off to find the enemies.

Kakashi straightened up and waited stock-still until he heard a ringing bark.

_Bull._

Running to aid the big hound didn't take long, seeing as he was only a hundred yards away. _That close? Damn. These guys are good.  
The jounin rounded a tree to see three of his beloved dogs wrestling with a bloodied ninja bearing an Iwa hitai-ate around his neck. _Well, Iwa makes sense, at he very least. But why would they be attacked by Akatsuki? Or attack Akatsuki, as the case seems to be? I'd better remember to question the guy, if I can. He looks to be a jounin in his own right.__

Calling out a sharp order to his dogs to leave the man, the silver-haired nin let three kunai loose into the fray and then prepared a chidori as fast as he could, pulling his headband up to uncover his Sharingan eye with a casual movement. Analyzing the shinobi, he called out to the man.

"Unless you want this through your heart, you'd better explain to me why you are one, pursuing me, and two, on Fire territory when our nations are at war. And make it good."

The ninja's head whipped around to stare furiously at Kakashi, but knowing he was outmatched in every way and already wounded, a beaten look appeared on his face.

"Not telling, filth."

Kakashi grinned sadistically, frightening the other man. "Oh, that's too bad. And here I was going to let you go if you told me where your companions were. My dogs haven't found him yet, you see, and I need to find them before I lose my temper and just obliterate this section of the forest. They must not be dripping blood like you are, ne?" He smiled jovially, like this was a daily occurrence.

All of the jounin's blood drained from his face, leaving him as pale as a ghost. "God…You're serious."

Kakashi replied with a happy grin. "Oh, most definitely."

The other man turned his face to the side to avoid Kakashi's penetrating stare and whimpered. "They're…They're dead. It's just me and the one other guy, Kazuya. Please don't kill him! We're just doing our mission! I know you're gonna kill me, but please let him go! He hasn't done anything yet! I was the one who threw the kunai! Please!"

Kakashi's twisted smile slid off his face and he wrinkled his nose. "You're a coward. Trying to protect your friend, or lover, whatever he is, won't get you anywhere. But you're right. You're dying no matter wha-"

Two shuriken aimed for him caused him to cut off and dodge back.  
 _And there's the partner. My threats worked, then._

Facing the tree where the two little weapons had come from, he raised his voice. "Come out and I'll make your death quick and release this pest, since you obviously like him enough to challenge me."

Hearing footsteps, he looked up and pinpointed the man's position to then feet up on a branch.

_Got you._

Taking a step forward while discreetly reaching for the used summoning scroll to un-summon the dogs – they'd done their job, after all – he froze.

_What?_

Hearing a laugh, he watched as the other nin dropped to the ground and walked toward him leisurely. "You can't move, can you, Konoha?"

_Screw you, Iwa._

The man smiled and proceeded. "You have the pleasure of being caught in my Rocks of Time jutsu. Have fun, because now you're stuck there like a rock… for all eternity! My jutsu is unbreakable!"

The man walked confidently by Kakashi and over to his partner, giving him a hand up. "Let's get out of here."

And they were gone.

Kakashi's blood ran cold. _Oh god. I'm never going to be found; nobody comes to this part of the forest. Ohgodohgodohgodohgod._

And with a flash of yellow chakra, everything disappeared.

-

Kakashi groaned and put his hand over his eyes. _What…? It's morning?_

"Ohmygod!" He bolted upright, remembering the events of a few hours before. _Wait. How am I able to move again? I'm obviously not caught in his jutsu anymore. So what happened? And what about Itachi?_

_Itachi!_

He turned around and skimmed the trees with his Sharingan, looking for chakra. _There!_

The jounin pushed himself up and jumped up to the branch he had laid the missing-nin on earlier. Kneeling down next to him, he reeled back in shock. Itachi was covered in a thin sheen of yellow chakra.

_Yellow? Then… It was him! He rescued me!_

Pushing his arms under the man's body and lifting him securely, he stood up and stared down at the unconscious nin. _I can't believe it._ _Did he seriously just do that? He's out cold!_

_He's out cold, and he saved us. Both of us. _That deserves a commendation in my book. I believe I'll have to honor that by making sure he stays_ alive _! He's got an enormous gash on his back and just went past his chakra reserves.__

_I didn't think it was even possible to do that. You're getting more surprising every time you do the slightest thing, Itachi. Thank you._

\--

-


	4. Reminiscence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically, shit that would never be condoned in any modern, law-abiding society.

Kakashi managed to shift Itachi to his other shoulder, gasping. "Man, Itachi, when'd you get so damn _heavy_?"

He wasn't, of course. Itachi had always been the smallest ANBU - even after hitting puberty and a growth spurt early on he was light as a feather and only 5'3", compared to the bulkier and taller teammates that he worked with. Kakashi himself was 5'10" and Ibiki was almost 6'4".

 _Although,_ he mused, _he seems to have grown a bit…he's closer to 5'8" now. Still small by our standards, but hey. I'm not judging… Power doesn't care how tall someone is. Or how heavy._ He groaned. Itachi was more than twenty pounds lighter than he himself…and Ibiki was over forty pounds heavier.

 _I suppose I'm not_ that _out of shape. Itachi's just…small. God, he would kill me if he heard that. Especially after all we've put him through because of it._

Kakashi and Ibiki had used this to its full advantage on espionage missions for ANBU back in the days of their more dangerous assignments, even going so far as to disguise the thirteen-year-old as a brothel girl on occasion. Needless to say, Itachi put up with the treatment for the sake of the mission but had been supremely pissed at them afterwards.  
Kakashi, in a moment of drunkenness, had once teased him for being a virgin to a woman's touch and experienced in every way with a man's even though he was obviously asexual, and the youth had given him a subdued and beaten look before turning away and quickly finding an excuse to leave the bar. The next day, Ibiki had reported that their teammate had broken during the night and needed a while off missions. Kakashi had always felt guilty for doing that to Itachi. He hadn't known his sexuality was a sore point for the boy and he'd only been teasing, after all. He knew that Itachi was completely straight even after the especially torturous missions in which his teammates couldn't get to him in time and he was forced to go all the way with a certain patron. Unfortunately, the majority of the patrons were ninja in their own right and would therefore recognize if Itachi tried to pull a henge or body change on them before sex, so he was forced to go almost all the way before casting a crude genjutsu on the men while they were in a passion-induced daze to convince them that his anatomy was thoroughly feminine. So even though the men felt the hot pussy they had paid good money for, they were, in reality, violating Itachi's body in a much more intimate way, in a place that, if properly done, would've required much more stimulation and lubricant than in its female equivalent. Kakashi was surprised the youth didn't break more often, but seeing as he kept his emotions bottled up so well… He supposed that after all he had gone through, constant rape wouldn't be that much of a deal.

He could be wrong though, seeing as it had never occurred to him. _And god forbid it does. I wonder if Tsunade knows? She'd probably demand an immediate medical checkup._

_Which would be extraordinarily embarrassing for Itachi. And it's probably not a good thing to annoy someone like him._

_Heh._

Initially, Kakashi and Ibiki had no qualms about asking their younger teammate to sacrifice his body for the good of this mission. It was his choice, not his parents', even though he was only twelve at the time.  
Ninja were of the opinion that if you were old enough to kill, you were old enough to have relationships to any extent or drink yourself into oblivion. Whatever got you through it.  
It had been a tradition among Kakashi's generation of genin – most older than him by a good seven years – to go to the inns every Friday night and get roaring drunk. Kakashi had attended once before he had realized he disliked the effects of alcohol, in typical young-Kakashi fashion.  
Most young ninja were fairly responsible, no mater how immature they might have been, so none of them thoroughly abused the privilege and some of them even put it to use the same way Itachi did.  
Admittedly, the majority became geisha, not brothel girls. And all of them were female already. Itachi was the only one Kakashi knew, of everybody in Espionage, that actually took it that far – both in disguise and sexual limits. Of course, in his case, there were no limits, unfortunately. Which was odd, because Itachi hated those missions so badly that it could almost be defined as a passion.  
Almost.  
Almost, because Itachi wasn't a passionate person.  
Coldly efficient was more like it.

When they had days off and took the chance to relax together, Itachi was slightly friendlier and, dare he say it, chattier.

Kakashi snorted and then flinched when the small action brought up blood. Coughing and spitting the blood out, he landed on a branch and slid the other nin off his shoulder to the ground. He needed to appraise his own wounds. It wouldn't do to have both of them die out here. If he had internal damage to his organs the injury had the potential to kill him - a stomach wound alone would cause the acid to mix with his blood and poison him, promising a painful death within fifteen minutes.

Konoha was twenty minutes away at his fastest. And he certainly wasn't even close to his top speed, what with lugging a dreadfully wounded Itachi. And if he counted his own wounds… Well, he should probably check himself over and attempt a quick heal for Itachi before he made any promises about his speed.

Sliding down to a sitting position with his back against a tree trunk, he gave a quick chakra pulse of the area to check for intruders. _None. Good. Foreign nin this close to Konoha better have a death wish, especially with the impending war and A-class security alert put in place.  
Stretching out his legs and placing a hand on each thigh, he sent out small chakra tendrils through his legs to check for any abrasions or cuts that couldn't be seen in the dim light filtering through the trees. So far, there were just some slashes from stray kunai that had been flung at him. _Nothing serious.  
Disregarding the cuts on his legs as nothing that would hamper his progress back to the village, he moved his hands upward, leaving one on his stomach and one on his chest above his heart. Repeating the process, he discovered and ugly slash across the front of his arm that glanced off his chest. _Ah…that'll scar. It must've impacted my ribs and broken one or two, considering how sore it is. Which would explain my coughing up blood._  
Changing the nature of his chakra wasn't easy, but he had been trained by one of the best medics he'd ever known - Rin Inuzuka. She'd insisted on precautionary field training for him after he'd come home ripped up after a particularly bad mission. She'd been killed on a mission of her own after that, so he'd never completed the course, but he'd tried. Her death was just a little much for him, especially after Obito.__

___Now he regretted it. He'd only gained enough knowledge to mend the skin; the surface wound. A patch job wouldn't do much for a deep injury; the blood simply wouldn't be able to leave the body. It would pool under the skin until removed._ _ _

It would have to do.

Mending the slash took about two minutes, but they were two minutes that could've been used to heal the unconscious shinobi next to him.  
Reaching over and reopening the cloak, he carefully turned his old teammate back over onto his stomach so he could get at the wound. The blood had coagulated around the edges and fused to the black material of his shirt and pants.

 _Oh, damn. Now I'll need to remove his clothes._ _Probably just his shirt, though; the section on his leg isn't as serious and I need to make this short and sweet. Or maybe short and bloody is a better term,_ Kakashi amended.

Pulling a kunai out of his holster and grasped the other man's shirt and proceeded to cut straight through the fabric, cringing as it pulled away from the wound stickily. Pocketing the kunai, he pushed both sides of the shirt away from the injury.  
Placing his hands on both ends of the gash - one on the right side of his neck and the other over the wound at his waist - he shoved his chakra into the wound, messily repairing the damaged skin and leaving the internal damage for Tsunade to fix back at the hospital.  
Letting the flow through his hands cease, he sat back and surveyed his work. Itachi wouldn't be happy when he saw the scar the sloppy heal had given him, but at least it would keep the younger ninja alive until Kakashi could turn him over to the Hokage.

Gritting his teeth and pulling the bloodstained cloak back around his old teammate, he lifted the man back over his shoulder and sprang to the next branch, resuming his track toward the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

\--

**-**


	5. Justified Worry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I thought lots of people in one place meant festival, not mob. Geez!

A wave of fatigue made its way through Kakashi's body, obliterating any and all remaining traces of the adrenaline that had propelled him from the branch after realizing that it was urgent he transport Itachi to the nearest hospital as quickly as possible or he wouldn't make it. Whatever he had done with that unusual yellow chakra coupled with the strain and blood loss and overall injuries he had sustained was going to kill him - and kill him fast. Unfortunately, Kakashi had also taken damages under the Rocks of Time jutsu – it was obviously designed to constantly leech away at the victim's strength, using the flow of chakra to forever imprison the entrapped ninja. Realistically, he should never have been able to escape it, but he supposed he should've expected Itachi to save him, unconscious and injured as he was.

 _Now's not the time to break out the sarcasm, idiot,_ he chided himself. _We're going to have to use shunshin to get into Konoha._

Shunshin, nomally a quick and easy jutsu for any chuunin, let alone jounin, was used as a contained transportation method inside or outside villages. Shinobi were forbidden from using it to get into or out of a village – each Kage had a barrier around their village that made the jutsu extremely dangerous when used for such a purpose. It was possible, fortunately, – or unfortunately, depending on who it was - for somebody with the Sharingan or Byakugan, because they could see the minute holes and traps in the barrier that caught unsuspecting ninja. Even then it was one of the hardest methods to gain entrance to a village, though, so many spies or wounded nin simply took the longer, easier route and went through the checkpoint at the gates.

But Kakashi and Itachi didn't have that option, and since the older ninja only had enough chakra left to complete one shunshin, he would have to get it right the first time.

Shifting the still unconscious Itachi to a different position – this time to over his shoulder – for optimal handsign ability, he began the series that would bring out enough chakra for an entrance shunshin.

_Inu saru tori hebi uma saru saru inu…_

"Come on…work!"

_Inu saru tori hebi uma saru saru inu…_

A drop of sweat rolled down his forehead and was caught by the dark fabric of his mask.

_Inu saru tori hebi uma saru saru inu..._

And at last, the fateful _poof._

-

Tsunade was pacing hurriedly back and forth in front of her desk, Shikamaru and Shizune watching exasperatedly.

"My lady, you've got to calm down. This is Kakashi-san we're talking about. He's one of the best we've got and he has the confidence to go with it. He'll be back soon, I'm sure." Shizune smiled weakly.

"You're sure! You're _sure!_ " Shizune, this is…by god, this isn't even S-class! It's worse! What was I thinking?" She shook her head, voice cracking hysterically. Taking a few calming breaths, she turned to a previously hidden figure clad in green leaning against a wall in the corner of the room. "Lee! Tell me again what you all found? And leave nothing out!"

Rock Lee could see that his Lady Hokage was clawing at strings in a last-ditch attempt to figure out whether her best jounin and good friend was still alive or not. It would not benefit this great woman if he were to make a valiant attempt to lie in order to cheer her up. No, he would simply continue to repeat the truth, no matter how much it hurt her to hear it. He wasn't a good liar anyway.

"My squad was courageously performing our assigned duty as we patrolled the outer borders between Konoha and Fire. We were making good time when Kiba-san caught the scent of blood and we discovered a massacre within the trees of our home forests." Taking a deep breath, he continued. "Kiba-san again demonstrated his most youthful senses when he found evidence of both Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki in the form of large amounts of blood. Both their bodies were gone, so we assumed Kakashi-san had gotten there before us and taken the Uchiha, but we're still unsure of what happened to the Hoshigaki's most sharky body. It is quite possible that his springtime of youth has wilted at last, my lady.

"Young Akamaru managed to track Kakashi-san's trail by Itachi's blood; there were such prolific amounts of it scattered around that we believe he must be severely harmed. But to continue, midway through his endeavor he alerted Kiba-san to the fact that two enemy ninja had less-than-noble intentions toward our friends and at one point engaged our hero in mortal combat!" Lee finished his speech with a dramatic flourish and a bandaged fist pumping the air.

"Hero? _Kakashi?_ " Tsunade asked dryly.

"I think you said all that in one breath, Lee," Shizune giggled. "Your face is slightly blue."

"Ah, but my lady, blue does not diminish my youthful complexion, does it? I would not want to shame you by being a most horrid blue in your presence, Shizune-chan!"

The hokage's assistant stifled another round of giggles and reassured her boyfriend. "It's okay, Lee honey. You look as dashing as ever."

Lee puffed up, beaming from her compliment.

Tsunade refrained from slamming her forehead onto her desk only because this relationship had made Shizune more cheerful…and therefore more inclined to _cheerfully and adequately_ complete the dreaded paperwork that Tsunade herself was all too fond of blowing off for some good sake. Hey, at least _someone_ was doing their work.

So she opted for a strained but approving smile.

"That's great, you two, but we need to get back to the subject of Kakashi before-" She was rudely cut off by a loud bang echoing through the tower accompanied by the hurried sound of running feet.

"Hokage-sama!" came a yell, followed by several others.

"Tsunade-baa-chan!"

"Shishou!"

_God. What now? Unless it's about Kakashi, I can assure them I don't want to hear it._

Sakura burst into her office first, throwing open the door with a slam that probably left a sizeable dent in the wall.

"It's Kakashi-sensei!"

Tsunade rocketed out of her chair.

" _What_?!?"

-

Kakashi had been thrown out of the unstable shunshin and into Konoha's main square so viciously that he now lay sprawled out on the ground, Itachi's prone form ungraciously tossed on top of him. Both had landed faceup – _what a miracle_ – but the younger man's torso was limp across Kakashi's chest.

"Well, that looks awkward."

Kakashi started and then cringed. _Gah…_ _My neck…_

"Uncomfortable, too. Who's the hottie on top of you, Captain? Never thought you'd be one to pick up girls on a mission."

_Ah. Only Genma would be this annoying five seconds after I appeared._

"Genma?" His voice cracked painfully from disuse.

"Yup?"

 _Why are you so goddamn cheerful when the rest of us here are in pain?_ "Could you maybe get Hokage-sama for me? It's…kind of urgent."

"Yeah, I can tell, man. But no worries. Naruto and Sakura-san already went up. So who is it? Anyone worth introducing to me?"

"Who's _who?_ " Kakashi groaned. He _so_ did not need this.

"Who's the broad… Wait. That's not a girl. Girls have tits."

"Very astute of you." Kakashi answered his friend. _He's an idiot._

There was a long silence.

"Kakashi, what the fuck is wrong with you? That's Itach Uchiha! Are you insane?!?" Genma yelled.

"Me? Insane? _You_ were the one who thought he was a girl…" Kakashi muttered, turning his head to the side, disguising his discomfort and anger. _Damn it, Genma! The entire town must've heard you just now! Come_ on _! Tsunade was planning on introducing him gradually, but now…! Now there'll be a fucking_ riot _!_

There was complete silence in the square, despite the fact that it was a Saturday and market day, to boot.

Then the whispering started, building up until it was a constant roar on all sides.

"The Uchiha! He'll kill us all!"

"It's that murderer! The guy that killed his entire clan in one night!"

"He'll kill our children!"

"He'll destroy the village!"

"Kill him!"

"Kill him!"

" _KILL HIM!_ "

The roar grew throughout the entire village. Citizens began unearthing pocket knives, stones, and pilfering kunai from neighboring stalls. Ninja began arming themselves with their entire arsenals, some unsealing storage scrolls containing yet more weapons to dispose of the murderer with.

They advanced upon the two ninja on the ground and Kakashi's eyes widened in fear before he shut them, closing himself to the world and attempting to accept the death that was coming to them both.

\--

-


	6. His Favorite Word is Peace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It'll be life-changing, I swear.

"SILENCE!" Tsunade's roar reverberated throughout the square, frightening the massed civilians and shinobi into submission. "All of you. I hadn't planned on…doing this now," she paused, taking a breath from her place on top of Hokage tower, "but you deserve an explanation." The people below eyed her with suspicion, not ready to believe that their beloved lady Hokage had had a hand in this atrocity.

Eyes roaming over the assorted colors, clans, and upbringings assembled in front of her, she mentally prepared herself to reveal the SS-class secret that even the Sandaime feared to unveil.

"I take it every single on of you remember the catastrophe that we call the 'Uchiha Massacre' and what it entailed?" Seeing a collective nod fan through her audience, she continued. "The horror at realizing hundreds of people had just been wiped out? The utter diminishing power of the fact that one of our most trusted shinobi – an ANBU captain of all people, a prodigy – had done it, and done it _alone?_ Without clear provocation? His own family, the clan that had supported Konoha since its inception? For years you've witnessed the aftereffects – the lack of our once prolific and successful police force. The trauma many of Itachi's subordinates suffered. The now adamantine taboo of having a clan heir in such a vital position of power outside civilian jobs. The cyclictic battle for revenge that one of our best genin has gone through for years, inhibiting any real progress he could've made because his older brother had spared him and he _didn't know why._

"All of you knew that an Uchiha at full power was something to behold, but none of you really _realized_ it until Itachi committed mass murder for no reason."

She paused again, letting the weight of her words sink in. She hated to do this to her people – making them relive their traumas, troubles, and terrors that had set in because of that terrible event – but she had to do it. As the old saying said, 'It has to get worse before it can get better'. She had to bring out every negative element to the situation and then rectify each and every one of them – if just one was left in a corner of somebody's mind, it would fester and the hate would be brought back tenfold.

"The tragedy of the Uchiha Massacre was very clearly defined – the entire Uchiha clan was killed in the span of one night with the exception of the murderer's little brother, Sasuke. But that's the analytical and _publicized_ version of the story.

"To discover the _real_ story, you must do something that one of our best jounin loves to advocate; you must look underneath the underneath."

Laying out pure knowledge with a dash of creativity was far harder than she had initially thought it would be. But it must've been working, because the crowd below was riveted. Every eye was on her.

"Konoha was unstable, as many of you remember, for we were still suffering the aftershocks of the Third Great Ninja War. But for Uchiha, it was a different matter entirely. The clan was not suffering from what the rest of us were; they were enduring the waves of resentment that ad spread and moldered and remained from the attempted coup of Madara Uchiha's. Almost every member of the clan was in agreement that Uchiha needed to be the leaders and it needed more recognition. But according to Fugaku Uchiha, the clan leader, the easiest was for them to recreate Madara's original coup d' etat.

"It was common knowledge that Itachi was both the clan heir and an ANBU captain, and the Uchihas saw him as a pipeline to the village nerve center. A way to bring them easy information. In essence, a spy or an agent. But what they hadn't realized was that Itachi was, in fact, a _double agent._ He was – and still is – completely loyal to Konoha, even more so than his clan. For him, clan ties didn't amount to much. The only things that mattered were Konoha and his closest relative, Sasuke.

"So while Fugaku Uchiha relied on Itachi to help propel the rebellion to fruition and success, in reality Itachi was providing us with intelligence on his father's plans and actions, even stifling the plans at various points along the way. But worst came to worst, and the Uchihas were going to go ahead with the rebellion at whatever cost. We had initially hoped that Itachi would be able to persuade his father and the clan elders that it would be a useless attempt and a bad idea, but to no avail. They were determined.

"What many of you probably never realized is that Itachi Uchiha absolutely abhors killing and violence. Yes, I know; it's very odd for a ninja to carry a mentality like that. But that was his way. He was set in his path and he carried out every mission perfectly, but whenever he could he limited the violence. He strove for peace above everything else.

"I see you don't believe me. After all, how could a youth dedicated toward pacifism ever murder that many people like he did, even if they were planning a rebellion? The Sandaime and the elders spent many nights convincing him that it was the only way to go. If they let the coup continue as planned, many would die and many more would divide and create yet more factions within Konoha. It would spawn a civil war, and if we would never have been able to bear something like that when we were still only just beginning to recover from the Third War. It would destroy our beloved village. And that was something Itachi couldn't handle, even theoretically. He was willing to go to any lengths to stop that from happening.

"That night, Danzou, Koharu, Homura, and Sarutobi-sensei gave Itachi that fateful order to destroy all threatening elements of the clan. Which, unfortunately, consisted of everyone, because they all were as deeply entrenched in it as they could be…except Sasuke. He was the youngest in the clan, and every child older than him was already a genin or higher, meaning that they were also involved in the machinations of the rebellion. None could possibly be spared.

"Danzou actually advocated for Itachi to dispose of Sasuke as well, but Itachi pleaded with the man so that his little brother could be spared and protected. Danzou eventually gave in, and Itachi left to complete his duty."

She paused again and shifted position – long speeches were always so tiring, but it helped that there were no distractions. Every citizen was riveted, paying close attention to her words. Some of them were directing sympathetic looks toward the unconscious Uchiha in the middle of the square – a good change from ten minutes previous.

Speaking of which…it looked like there was a good amount of blood pooled around the two ninja in the center. She'd better wrap up quick and take them in to the hospital.

"Danzou would not approve of me telling you all this, so it's a good thing that he was deposed a while ago, ne?" She got a couple grimaces and a couple smiles, urging her to continue.

"Fortunately, I don't have to worry about Homura or Koharu because they've been previously informed of the situation.

"We had sent Kakashi out on a mission to retrieve Itachi because there is nothing more he can do concerning the extermination of Akatsuki – he's aided us in one way or another in killing four of them – and we really will need all the skilled hands we can get in the upcoming battles and missions against Iwa.

"So, If you don't mind, we need to wrap this up and get those two to the hospital as soon as is conveniently possible." She smiled at her rapt audience, gesturing to the bloody pile of limbs that was Kakashi and Itachi.

Jumping over the railing and landing next to the two men, Tsunade put her hand on the Uchiha's forehead and patiently assessed his condition. "Shizune! I need you and Sakura down here!"

Two pairs of feet thudded to the ground on either side of her, the hands accompanying them quickly flying to unearth the moaning bundle of silver hair from underneath the black-wrapped male.

"Kakashi are you okay under ther-" Shizune was cut off by a clamor on the outside of the ring of bystanders. "Oh, what _now?_ "

A teenager with black hair had pushed through the crowd and was now standing, panting, inside the circle.

Raising a hand clutching a kunai so hard it was bleeding, the boy yelled, "What the _hell_ is that _murderer_ doing here? And why are you helping him?

Tsunade's eyes widened, a burst of panic shooting through her body.

_Sasuke._

-

\--


	7. Fated Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My manly tears, they've appeared.

The blond Hokage wanted to melt into the ground just to get away from all the trouble that this – supposedly well-thought-out – mission had generated.

_Oh, god…he must not have been here for the explanation._

Why hadn't she thought about this before she told the rest of the village? If there was anyone who deserved to know about this predicament, it was the little brother - the only remaining family - of the one involved.  
The little brother who also happened to be the one ninja in Konoha living his life for the sole purpose of killing Itachi.

_Damn._

"Sasuke, he's innocent. Well, not _innocent_ , per se, but close enough. I mean, he was _ordered_ to do it by the ruling council…" Tsunade stopped, wanting to hit herself in the head. _  
Yeah, that's the way to do it. Imply to him that the people who are in charge of deadly force in the village want to destroy Uchiha, and therefore him. Right._

Looking back down at the unconscious Uchiha at her knees, she was about to begin a new explanation when she realized that Itachi was awake.

"Ah…Itachi? Just rest. We'll get you to the hospital in a minute. I've explained the situation to the villagers and we're just helping Sasuke-" She broke off as she leaned back, allowing Itachi to push himself up unsteadily. "Wait, please! You really shouldn't be doing that in your condition! Just lay down!"

Ignoring her desperate attempts to get him back down, Itachi proceeded to straighten up. Surveying the still crowd with jet black eyes, he pinpointed his little brother and stumbled towards him slowly. Sasuke, frozen in place by a mix of terror and confusion, could do nothing but stare right back at his older brother.

"A…Aniki? Stop…Don't get any closer!" His voice cracking from panic, warned of tears contained inside the teen's throat. It was a little more than comforting to know that Itachi didn't have his sharingan activated, but this was his genius older brother. He could do anything, including kill Sasuke with his bare hands while severely injured.

Itachi came to a shaky stop in front of his brother, legs collapsing from the strain of walking. On his knees, he reached toward Sasuke and then hugged him fiercely, face buried in his little brother's stomach, whispering three words brokenly.

" _I'm so sorry_."

Sasuke came unfrozen all of a sudden, but once he could move, he found that didn't want to. This had been his dream since his brother had first left, and if he moved he might shatter this long wished for moment.

To have his brother apologize; for things to go back to the way they once were. It was his childish dream, but it was deep-rooted in the want – no, the _need_ – to have his older brother back, the one person in his family that _really mattered_. The _need_ to know that the vengeful life he had been living for the past ten years was all a lie; that they could be reunited and together again, brothers once more.

Letting his arms hang down and tightly embrace his brother, he was startled to feel something wet on his cheeks.

He was crying.  
He was crying for Itachi.  
He was crying for Itachi, because Itachi was back.  
He was crying, because his older brother was back.  
His older brother was back.

He repeated the sentence to himself, disbelieving.

_His older brother, his beloved older brother…had returned to him._

And suddenly, the tears came full force.

_Thank you, aniki...._

He was startled out of his thoughts when he felt the pressure around his waist cease.

"Itachi?" His eyes widened as he looked back down at his brother. "Oh!"

His aniki had blacked out again. Sasuke brought his arm up and rubbed his eyes, letting his sleeve soak in all the remaining tears. Looking to Tsunade, he had to try to speak a couple of times before a comprehensible sound came out because his throat was so tight from happiness.

"Is he okay?"

Tsunade started and then realized what Sasuke was talking about. _Thank god that went over well. A little unexpected, but pretty well all the same._  
Standing up and motioning to the hospital, she called to her two aides to bring stretchers for the wounded nin. "Izumo! Kotetsu! They need to be transported to the hospital on the double!"  
The two chuunin looked at each other and grinned before running off to get the requested devices. "At once, Hokage-sama!"

Staring after them to make sure they ran off in the right direction, the busty blond smiled to herself at their enthusiasm. Both the chuunin had been close to Itachi years ago, so it was probably a weight lifted off their hearts to see their friend back in the village after all this time.  
Looking back to the injured shinobi to see that Shizune and Sakura – cheered on by Lee – were already working diligently healing some of Itachi's lesser cuts and bruises, she turned and walked over to Sasuke, who was still frozen in his previous position, shocked by the proceedings. He had taken it all very well, she supposed, and he had the most forlorn, worried expression on his face that she could resist that she couldn't resist throwing out some words of comfort for the young ninja.

"Sasuke, if you don't stop looking worried you're going to ruin your icy bastard reputation with the ladies…" Tsunade trailed off, grinning when he whipped around to face her.

"I don't care! Itachi-" He burst out, disregarding her cheery, teasing words.

She promptly cut him off, knowing very well how concerned he was for his brother. She herself had freaked out when she had heard of her brother Nawaki's injury almost thirty years ago…but then again, Nawaki had died soon after. Hopefully that wouldn't set a pattern for Itachi to follow. She wouldn't allow it!

"I have full confidence that they'll be healed and up and about within two weeks, Sasuke. And actually…" She paused, pondering her words, "Kakashi's recovery may take much less; his major injury isn't even really an injury at all. He's mostly just suffering from severe chakra exhaustion."

Sasuke still seemed worried – though who wouldn't be? The only family he had left was battling a wound that would be fatal under normal circumstances. It was only by Kakashi's quick actions that he hadn't lost every drop of blood in his body, but now that he was in Konoha, Tsunade could treat him with all the extensive skills at her disposal and make sure that he survived.

"Hokage-sama, chakra exhaustion is still very dangerous…and why aren't they healing that gash?" Sasuke pointed worriedly at Itachi's worst injury, his hand trembling the slightest bit.

Tsunade reached out and pushed his hand down gently. "Kakashi will be fine, trust me. He's gone through complete chakra exhaustion and worse than this many times before on different missions. It'll take him a little while to build it all up again, that's all. And don't worry; the rest of Itachi's wounds will be tended to once we've got him in a sterilized operating room with a set of blood transfusions and the like ready. It'll leave a hefty scar, but nothing he hasn't had before, I don't think. Sakura and Shizune can't begin to heal them right now because he's too unstable and if we fixed them up a little and then moved him to the hospital, it's very likely that they'll just tear and result in his condition worsening. They're mending the smaller-scale injuries – cuts, bruises, shallow slashes – at the moment. It's true that his biggest injury, that gash across his back, is threatening his life, but the smaller ones are also imperative to healing him – he's losing a goodly amount of blood through them, too. But not to worry; we'll do our best to get him back on his feet as soon as possible so you two can have some brotherly-love chat sessions back at home!" The blond leader chuckled at the expression on the Uchiha's face; it seemed to be somewhere between wistful want and complete disgust.  
"And there's our ride!"

Sakura stood up from her place beside Itachi and directed Izumo and Kotetsu to place the stretchers on the ground so they could transfer both injured shinobi safely to the Konoha Hospital. Lifting Itachi as carefully as they could, the two chuunin deposited him on the white sheet of the stretcher and took off toward their destination moving as smoothly as they could so as not to jostle their passenger. Sakura and Shizune followed close behind them with a groaning Kakashi a little less smoothly, seeing as if they stopped shaking it he'd grab at the opportunity and cheerfully grope them. A little chakra exhaustion never stopped a faithful pervert, and he wasn't about to prove his old adage wrong.

\--

-


	8. A Toast to Your Health

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But let's do water, just in case. Remember, alcohol is bad for patients!

It was almost routine at this point.

Wake up. Listen to the machines beeping steadily and try not to become annoyed. Hear the voices of people - he didn't know who they were and didn't much care - and try to understand them, if only to discover exactly where he was.

Oh, he knew where he was in the sense that he had been brought to a hospital. He knew where he was in the sense that he was in Konoha.  
But he didn't know where he was in the healing and recovery process. Obviously something was very wrong, because he couldn't move and if Tsunade-sama was the one overseeing his health, he probably wasn't strapped down. He couldn't see, but he had realized at some point that they were keeping his eyes bandaged, and he wondered why. Blackness was kind of monotonous, after all, and it was getting more than a little boring. He couldn't speak to ask about his condition, either - but that was probably due to the tubes down his throat.

Thinking back, he recalled fighting next to Kisame, and his partner had fallen first, taken out by a heavy blow to the neck. The mist missing-nin was probably dead. Itachi himself had kept fighting until the end, when two ninja that had hidden themselves earlier leapt out of the trees and delivered a complete surprise attack. The last thing he remembered was a blade sinking deep into his back before darkness overcame him.

He was sure that he had died. But he came back to consciousness briefly when he sensed someone close to him in distress, and let out a flash of chakra - all that he could spare, as he realized he was almost exhausted in his supply and needed some left to maintain his broken body - to attempt to help this friendly presence. He had been pulled beneath the darkness after that. Everything was in a fog until he surfaced above the black ness to find himself on the ground in the center of Konoha, his little brother's voice punctuating his haze of pain. He had forced his body over to where Sasuke's voice was coming from and stumbled, grabbing on to his only family's warmth and apologizing, he knew. He heard Sasuke start crying - very out of character for his cold little brother - and then left consciousness once again, only to drift awake surrounded by a sterile smell and laying on a hospital bed.

Wonderful. That didn't tell him anything about his injuries.

He strained to listen for the voices and fired a little chakra to his ears - practically the only uninjured part of him - and felt a spark of happiness when he realized that he could hear them, and that they were discussing his health.

"What's his condition? When I was healing him I noticed his spine had been gashed, but obviously it couldn't have been too bad if he managed to walk over to his brother."

"He's not that great, but fortunately his body is healing. He's bound to have some mental trauma, especially with having repressed his emotions for so long under that mask, but he'll recover."

"That's good. I was worried that walking would hurt him more, but is it even possible to hurt him more after all those injuries? He's really gotten mauled. It makes me wonder what happened."

"One minute, Kakashi, let's discuss this in my office. I'd rather not talk about this in the hall. I'd like to keep his condition private.

"Sure, Tsunade-sama."

The sound of footsteps got further and further away and he was left in a calm silence punctuated by harsh beeps once again.

At least he knew he was alive, and that his teammate was here for him.

\---

The Godaime Hokage sat down in her chair and steepled her fingers beneath her chin in her classical 'concerned medic' pose. "Getting up and walking to Sasuke like he did must have twisted his spinal cord the slightest bit, causing it to become even more injured. It wasn't severed, thank god, but he won't be able to walk for a long time. A few years would be typical. Months if Itachi proves himself to be the genius everyone thinks he is and manages to surprise us. Either way, we're going to need someone to take care of him. Normally, I would just ask a family member, but I'm not sure I trust Sasuke with his temporarily disabled older brother. I know he'll want to, though, so how about we make a compromise?"

Kakashi glared at the blond medic. "And I suppose I am involved in this, _again_?"

"Yes, actually," Tsunade replied seriously. "I'd like someone he knows very well to live with him and Sasuke at the Uchiha Compound until he's completely healed. Ibiki would be perfect because he knows extensive medical ninjutsu in case he has to keep his prisoners alive, but Sasuke barely knows him and he's already got work for the next month or so involving a spy nest he's managed to rat out. He wouldn't have the time, so you get the opportunity. Do you accept?"

"…Yes." Kakashi groaned, lowering his ever-present Icha-Icha. "I suppose I have to, don't I? But if given the choice, I'd rather do a thousand D-rank missions than live with Sasuke…although his cooking _is_ rather good."

"Perfect. Now you just need to let Sasuke know that he'll be living with his sensei for a while. But before you head out, I need you to explain exactly why your teammate's body is a total wreck."

Kakashi frowned. "Clarify?"

"Kakashi, when we got Itachi into the emergency room, a team started work on his major injuries while I gave him an…internal checkup, if you may. What I found was absolutely _unbelievable_. His sharingan have been so overused that he might as well be blind. His lungs have some odd type of bacteria eating away at them - to the point where he would've died in a few months had you not brought him in. And…this might be kind of personal… Is he gay? Or was he ever involved in any male-male relationships?"

"I take it you're asking me why is it exactly that his pelvis is practically in pieces from what could only be caused by multiple, sustained rapes?" Kakashi asked softly, a tired tone evident through his words. He couldn't answer her question pertaining to Itachi's sexuality, but he certainly knew why his lower torso was in such bad condition. He and Morino had been horrified when they had found out exactly what Itachi had been keeping from them. They hadn't been aware that Itachi didn't manage to kill some of his 'customers' in time to escape. True, it only happened occasionally, but they were sent out on missions into brothels and geisha houses _all the time._ When they had discovered he was frequently raped, they were…incredibly pissed off that he hadn't told them. If they had known, they would've stopped accepting the missions. They did, after that, but the damage had already been done. His pelvis was healed to the best of the head medic's ability, but he frequently had problems with it time to time before he left.

He shook his head, clearly distressed, as Tsunade nodded her assent hesitatingly. "If you go to the ANBU Espionage missions room and look under 'Team Assassin: A-S Class' you can read the whole story, but I'll just give you an abbreviated version. The rest is Itachi's to tell, if he ever does. He was more than a little traumatized, but he's better than anyone at shoving his emotions down the drain.

"When we were in ANBU, there were no other women in our section, and Itachi's potential was recognized. Not as a fighter, but as an androgyny. He was - and still is - very beautiful, and many people mistake him for a female due to his face and smaller stature. Our superiors sent us out on missions where Morino and I would 'sell' a young girl - as we were slave traders or dealt in black-market prostitution - with Itachi as the young girl. It was his assignment to get the info and escape before they could actually do anything, but as you can imagine, it didn't always work out so well. I'm not going to tell you anything else because you can find the preliminary medical report with the missions report and files and remember, it's his story. Only he can tell it. I'll be going now." He leapt out the window and Tsunade could see him heading toward the memorial so he could be as late as usual for Sasuke.

Pausing, she stiffened as she remembered what she had forgot to ask. "Kakashi, you bastard! You still need to tell me about your individual breaking symptoms! Agh!"

\---


	9. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aww, how sweet. Maybe the monsters behind my shower curtain will end up being my greatest weapon in life?

The rain continued to pour down, crying the tears of the heavens down upon the village. Kakashi had already left, according to Tsunade, to go drop in on his brother and inform the teen that he'd have his brother back, but it came in a two-for-one deal with his lazy sensei.  
The hokage had decided to visit his room and tell him what had gone on and what condition his body was in. He didn't know why she cared so much about his old injuries, but he couldn't exactly ask her, and he was content enough with being talked to at all. But when she had mentioned Sasuke, everything had blanked out in favor of memories of his beloved little brother, spurred on by the torrential downpour outside. It was a time to think of moments long past, of a night he had shared with his little brother that served to comfort them both at the same time.

\---

"Nii-san?"

Itachi ignored the small voice calling his name pleadingly and continued to stare out the rain-slashed window deep into the night. Pretending to be asleep was almost too easy, especially since Sasuke was in the doorway behind him – Itachi was laying on his side in his bed and watching the bright white of the lightning as it seared through his retinas.

 _More, more,_ he thought. _If I can hurt my eyes, destroy my ability to see, Father will stop depending on me. I won't have to bear the responsibilities of the clan or the fact that I'm betraying every single Uchiha come tomorrow night. Something will turn out right. I won't have to kill them, I won't have to hurt Sasuke, I won't have to hurt the village. I…I won't have to join the most dangerous criminal organization in existence._  
I'm afraid to go through with this. I don't want to destroy people's lives. Why can't they just…not rebel in the first place? Why do they have to involve everyone I know and love? The village I know and love?  
I'm scared.

"I'm scared."

Itachi jerked up and twisted around, staring at Sasuke with apprehension and fear in his eyes. _How does he know…?_ With an intake of breath he realized that Sasuke hadn't been reading his mind or emotions at all; his little brother _was_ scared.

Of thunder.

Itachi rolled his eyes in a rare display of outward exasperation and collapsed back onto his covers, now mussed from his frantic movements. He gestured with a limp hand and spoke through the covers to his little brother. "Fine. Come on over, otouto. You can sleep with me tonight." He held back the covers to provide some space on the window side of the bed and Sasuke walked around to the proffered side, putting his hands on the mattress. Scrambling up to worm under the covers, he crawled next to Itachi, small hands going automatically to a comfortable position around his older brother's waist.

"Sasuke, you're six. Why are you still scared of thunder?" Itachi settled into his former position of looking out the window and cradled his younger sibling toward him, the boy's head tucked into his chest as if searching for warmth.

"I…It's too loud," Sasuke answered, voice muffled. "It makes me jump. I don't like it!"

Itachi shook his head as his brother's voice cracked in fear. "Paranoid of lightning. Wow, you'll be a great ninja."

Sasuke pulled his head out and sat up in indignation. "But nii-san, you were telling me just the other day that all ninjas are scared of something, and that's not necessarily a bad thing!"

_Like me. I'm scared of tomorrow._

"Sasuke, it's not necessarily a bad thing because you can't judge fear as _bad_ or _good_ in the first place. And there's always a good side. Here, turn around." Itachi sat up and turned his little brother around so they were both looking out the window.

_The good side to my fear of tomorrow means my love for Sasuke and Konoha and peace is revealed. In the same way, there's a good side to thunder. A more beautiful side._

"Otouto, next time you hear thunder, keep your eyes open instead of scrunching them closed and huddling down like normal, okay? Just watch."

Sasuke nodded hesitatingly. Almost immediately, the loud rumble of thunder made itself known, and a flash of burning white electricity tinged with blue followed the noise.

"Oh!" Sasuke let a smile creep over his face. He'd never seen that before. "Big brother, what is that? It's so cool!"

Itachi leaned forward, quietly hugging his younger brother. "It's lightning, Sasuke. It's electricity produced by the storm. You've heard of it before, you've just never seen it because you always hide away from the windows or close your eyes."

"But…" The light was still engraved in the blackness when he closed his eyes. "It's…beautiful! It really is. Is there more?"

Itachi smiled slightly at the sight of his brother's wonderment. "Yes, Sasuke. Lightning always follows thunder. Do you see what I meant when I said there's always a good side to your fears? You don't like thunder, but you can bear it because it brings with it such an amazing sight. There's a saying – 'every cloud has a silver lining' – that amounts to much of the same thing. Whenever you are confronted with something bad, there will be something good hiding just past it, like your lightning."

Sasuke stiffened as another bout of thunder rolled by, and then sighed as lightning took over the sky , illuminating the village below them and making the constant rain appear all the more beautiful. "Brother…Are there any lightning jutsus? So I could see it up close?"

Itachi chuckled, slightly startled at his counterpart's fascination with the force of nature. "Yes, actually. I don't know of many – and most are A- to S-rank - but one of my friends knows a close-range lightning-style jutsu called 'chidori', or one thousand birds. If you ask, maybe he'll show it to you."

"Really? Who? Do I know them? Is it an Uchiha?"

Itachi's thoughts soured slightly at the mention of Uchiha. "No, Sasuke. It's Kakashi-san, my teammate in ANBU. The dog-summoner with the single Sharingan? You've met him once or twice when I've come home with him from missions."

"Wow, aniki! You know cool people!" Sasuke grinned. "I wanna meet him!"

Itachi frowned slightly, but not enough so that his little brother would notice. "If you see him, you can ask him. I probably won't be going near the Hatake compound or on missions for a while."

"What? Aniki, are you ok?" Sasuke asked worriedly, his concern for his brother overpowering his obsession with the lightning.

Itachi fell back and brought his covers up, pulling Sasuke down with him. "Shhh. I'm fine. It's time to go to sleep, okay otouto?"

Sasuke snuggled in and yawned tiredly. "See you in the morning, Itachi-nii…"

Itachi had already left for training when Sasuke got up, and when he came home after the Academy, he found their clan dead and their parents slaughtered at the hand of his brother.

From then on, lightning had become a tool of revenge.

\---

Itachi sighed mentally and wished his brother were with him. He missed the little Sasuke that had leant himself to warmth on cold, rainy nights, and he missed their big brother-little brother conversations.

But he wasn't scared anymore. Just resigned.  
And hopeful.  
For the future.

His future…their future.

_Sasuke…_

\--

-


	10. Memories II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I actually do like tomatoes. I'll hold on the cantaloupe, though.

Itachi was stuck in bed again. Because, really, when was he not stuck in bed? He'd been lying on the sterile white sheets - at least he _assumed_ that they were white and _hoped_ that they were sterile – for the past week, and he'd resorted to going through happier memories of happier times and happier families once again.

Kakashi had come in earlier, chatting aimlessly about something to do with dragging Sasuke out to the market and being surprised when the student had asked him if they could get some tomatoes – and he hadn't broken the news yet that he was staying with the two later and woah, Itachi, you just smiled! "Tsunade! Where are you? I think he's awake!"

Ignoring the sound of heels clip-clopping their way toward his room, he sunk into the memory of exactly why it was that his little brother loved tomatoes…

\---

Itachi rubbed his forefinger along the muted shine of the tomato thoughtfully, gazing off into the distance across the garden in the back of the house. Father and Sasuke were due back any minute from his little brother's annual parent-teacher conference at the academy – it was his first year, after all; Father couldn't brush the conference off _that_ quickly, unlike everything else he did involving his youngest son.

Tossing the tomato in the air and catching it smoothly, he eyed it with distaste. The lady he'd helped across the street earlier – who also made him fetch her cat from the tree, and carry her groceries, and cook her dinner, and weed her garden – had given him a whole batch of tomatoes as payment.

He hated D-rank missions, especially now that he was a chuunin and being reviewed for ANBU. The Hokage would end up giving him them whenever he was injured, and seeing how many A-ranks they'd been assigning him…turned out to be quite often.

And he _hated_ tomatoes. It was something about the juicy, oozing red of especially ripe tomatoes – every time he cut one open, he saw blood. They triggered memories better kept locked up tight in his mental vault. Memories of the war, of things he wished he couldn't recall in quite so much graphic detail. His father praised him over and over again – 'that's my boy' – for having a photographic memory along with the Sharingan – neither related to the other but both working in tandem to bring up horrid scenes that would be every ninja's worst nightmare and gory battlegrounds that could only be described as bloodbaths from his memories. From his subconscious. From everything that made him a good, emotionless little ninja and everything that constantly and consistently ate away at his psyche.

He _definitely_ needed a psych evaluation. Look at him; not even in ANBU and already succumbing to the elements of the silent profession that destroyed the members to the point that some of them were executed so they could finally rest from the never-ending torture of insanity brought on by too little sleep and too much murder.

The village called the ANBU their silent protectors and trusted them with their lives.  
Obviously they hadn't realized that each and every member of the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai was toeing the tenuous line between loyalty and insanity, and probably had been since the first mission.

He sighed and stood up, shaking his head to ward off the bad thoughts. Running his fingers through his hair, he pulled off the string holding it in a ponytail let it flutter loosely about his shoulders. His day had been only mildly stressful compared to some, but he wanted to see Sasuke. The six-year-old always made him smile and feel like he could finally relax.

His parents had never made him feel that comfortable.

Knowing Sasuke, the boy would want to know what he'd gotten from the women he'd helped. But did Sasuke even know what a tomato was? Their mother didn't normally make dishes with the red fruit since Itachi had long ago shown his revulsion. If his revulsion counted as a blank face and avoiding all eye contact with the evil food, that is.

Walking calmly toward the kitchen to dump the tomato back in the basket on the table, he sat down on a cushion and leaned on the table, head resting on his hands as if he had a headache.

He was _tired._

Listening half-heartedly to the sounds of the front door sliding open and shoes being removed, he sighed.

_Sasuke…I don't know what I'd do without you._

"Ita-nii!"

_I would die without you._

_For you._

"Anikiii! What'd you get today? You seem tired! Was it hard?" The little boy grabbed some of his brother's hair and yanked softly, trying to get his nii-san up and talking.

Sighing and letting a slight smile appear on his lips, he lifted his head and tackled Sasuke. Tickling his little brother held so much merit. And it was totally worth his father's rebukes just to see the joyous smile on the six-year-old's face.

"Itachi…"

And there it was. His father just _had_ to interfere, didn't he?

"That is highly immature. Stop rolling around on the floor and come with me. We need to discuss the fact that you've been injured far too many times for an Uchiha. You've been slipping, Itachi. I'll be in the main room. Don't keep me waiting."

_Walk out, walk out, walk out of here…_

He walked out, heading toward the room he had mentioned.

_Thank you, kami._

"Sasuke…I got you something new today. I don't think you've ever seen one before."

"What? What is it? I wanna see!"

Itachi laughed at Sasuke's enthusiasm and poked him in the forehead. "You can't just have it. You need to guess what it is, and if-"

Sasuke cut him off happily, rubbing the red spot where Itachi had poked him distractedly. "-If I can't, you'll tell me and then I can have it, I know, nii-san! Come on already!"

"Okay. Your hint is….it's edible."

"Aww! I wanted a kunai or some cool weapon! Hmph. Fine. Is it…yellow?"

"No."

"…White?"

"No."

"…Green?"

"No-"

"Gah! Help me out here!"

"…It might be in this room."

Sasuke leaped up and swiveled his head around, determined to find whatever it was he was looking for. Hmmm. It was a food, it wasn't yellow, white, or green… Oh! What were those red things?

"Itachi-nii! What are the red balls on the table?"

"They're called tomatoes, Sasuke. Would you like to try one?"

Mikoto stiffened from her place at the sink. Itachi had brought home _tomatoes_? What had happened today? The first time she had ever offered him the fruit and also been the last, as he had taken one look at the neat slices with their insides spilling out and gotten a strangled look before promptly jumping through the window. Apparently he was too traumatized by the sight that he would have rather gotten glass imbedded in his skin than wait the two more seconds it would've taken to actually _open_ the window. Turning around, she eyed her eldest son. He just gazed back innocently – it was the type of look that said, 'Don't interfere. He's mine.' Turning back to the dishes, she rolled her eyes. He'd brought them as a present for Sasuke? It was just too cute.

"Yes yes yes!"

Smiling, Itachi stood up to get a knife. Walking over to the drawer, he selected a particularly sharp one – the better it cut, the less the inside oozed – and returned to the table, taking the tomato and cutting into neat slices, careful not to let any get on his fingers. "You can eat it raw, Sasuke."

The little boy smiled and picked up a piece, taking a tentative bite. His eyes lit up as its juicy goodness sparked his tastebuds and made him drool for more.

Leaning forward, his older brother flicked out a finger and wiped off the drool that had escaped. "I take it you like it."

Sasuke's eyes flashed in euphoria and he grinned, mouth still full of tomato. "I love it! And you gave it to me! So it's even better, nii-san!"

Itachi had never liked tomatoes, but at the sight of his adorable little brother stuffing slices into his mouth and laughing, his aversion lessened a little – though it wasn't quite enough to persuade him to take a piece for himself. It did persuade him to ignore his father's summoning for the day, though, just so he could watch his little brother be happy.

_All for you, Sasuke._

_All for you._

\---

The door opened with a bang and the blonde Hokage stepped in, panting faintly. "He's awake? Are you serious?"

"Yup. He smiled through the oxygen mask and if the tubes were out he'd probably be telling me to shut up and I'm too loud. Or maybe it was the story behind the tomato thing with Sasuke.

"Kakashi, I have no idea what you mean by 'tomato story', but if I take the tubes out so he can talk and go home with you guys, you need to promise me that you'll take care of a specific inhaler I'll give you that I think will destroy the bacteria if he uses it twice a day."

"Sure…but you didn't have to say it all in one breath. Your breasts bounce around when you breath hard like that."

There was a large crash and then Itachi heard Shizune's voice cry out. "Aah! My lady! Do you know how hard it is to fix a wall in a hospital?!"

\---


	11. Of Insight, Cleaning, and Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> aka stuff happens

Kakashi scratched his chin thoughtfully while he read, his feet traversing oft-taken routes throughout the town proper. Most of the time absent-minded walking like this lead to one thing – the memorial stone. The place where, day after day, he mourned his fallen comrades and teammates, friends and lovers, teachers and students. To this day, all had deserted him but one team and one group of students out of the hundreds of people he'd interacted with in that manner. He had created this psychological impasse with himself over a team; they'd either follow in the others' paths and die or catch the scent of a lucky clover and survive. He'd likened the situation to Tsunade-hime's cursed necklace; anyone it was given to died. Few could survive, and it appeared that Teams Assassin and Seven were those lucky people.  
The two last surviving Uchiha, both wanted under S-class status by every great shinobi nation except their own; that had to count for something.  
The top-notch interrogator who could make a victim spill their deepest secrets in a minute flat.  
The jinchuuriki of the kyuubi; the abused demon child who was the acknowledged powerhouse of the team.  
And the medic that could claim skills almost equal to Tsunade's; the no-name civilian-clan Haruno who fought harder to save her friends than anyone but her blond teammate, and in a vastly different way.

They were a select group, and one he greatly respected. He could work seamlessly with them, their teamwork melding together and supporting each other perfectly. They were of enormous importance to the village itself, making up the very structure of the ninja inside it. All knew of them, and they were comfortable in the lives they had achieved – although there would always be that one loudmouthed brat who wanted to become the Hokage.  
They knew each other inside and out. They could laugh, cry, scream, and smile with each other and at each other.

But living in the same house as two of them for months and possibly years?

Oh holy mother of fuck, no way in hell.

Especially when the aforementioned two had been sworn enemies –one-sided, though – for ten years and had only just begun to accept the fact that they were allowed to be brothers again.

He could see it already; this was going to be awkward. Veeerrry awkward. Possibly more awkward than failing a D-class mission. Possibly more awkward than One Thousand Years of Pain.  
Oooh, yes. This was going to hurt. Especially since one of the two would need to be babied.

Kakashi sighed, glad that it wasn't Sasuke who'd gotten the spinal injury. That boy was the most stubborn person he'd come across in his life – barring Naruto, because few people could beat the blonde in anything regarding emotions or friends – and if he had to be babysat for everything from eating to taking a bath…whew, Kakashi would have had his share of Uchiha Death Glares for a century. But Itachi would take it much more easily; he'd been hospitalized for severe injuries of the same sort before – as in, injuries where he couldn't walk or function normally and therefore needed help – so he'd be much more accustomed to this sort of treatment and therefore much easier to deal with.

Snapping his book closed and slipping it into his pouch, he stopped in his tracks toward the memorial and instead pivoted in the direction of….

Hmm. Where would Sasuke be on a fine day like this? Training? Eating with Naruto? Sulking in the compound? Reading in his apartment?

There was only one option. Naruto would be able to ferret out the Uchiha through sheer annoyance, if nothing else.

Pushing chakra to his feet, he leapt into the air and onto the roof of the nearest house. "Oh, Ichiraku…Where are you…?" Pinpointing the location of the popular ramen stand, he set off toward it, seemingly determined to break a personal speed record.

Plopping down into an unoccupied barstool, he turned to his once-student sitting next to him and whispered, "Boo."

Naruto bolted out of the seat and sprang onto the wall, cradling his half-full bowl of ramen to him protectively. "What? Kakashi-sensei! You know how I hate that!"

Watching the boy drop off his place on the wall and retreat back into his seat, he smiled cheerfully. "And that's exactly why I do it. Now, if you don't mind, I need to find your sweet black-haired stuck-up idiot of a teammate for a little heart to heart; I've been putting this off but-"

"He's in the compound, sensei. He's been there for the past three days trying to clean it up and shit. He enlisted Shikamaru and Kiba and me and we were helping but right now its lunch break so I'm here. The other guys went home for a nap."

Kakashi's eyebrow lifted. "A nap? They shouldn't be that tired after a little cleaning."

Naruto's expression soured as he contemplated a bit of noodle hanging off the edge of his bowl. "Yeah, that's what we thought, too…A little bit of cleaning, hah! That compound is enormous and it's filled with an ungodly amount of dust – the last time anyone was there was just after the massacre, you know. Kiba asked him why we had to clean over half of the compound if only he and his brother were staying there, but he gave us some obscure answer about needing some of the rooms for something and how the libraries and dojos should really be cleaned up…It's amazing how good a condition the houses and buildings are in, really – we all thought they'd be rotting away or falling apart from a decade without maintenance, but Sasuke told us that they were made with really good wood and how the guys who built them put seals all over the place so that they wouldn't be harmed unless someone deliberately wanted to destroy it and unlocked the protection seals." Naruto turned back to his ramen and slurped up the last little bit. "We should be done after today, though, since my shadow clones are helping and having a thousand and four people cleaning the compound is a lot more efficient than four. Miso, please!"

Kakashi rolled his eyes at the blonde's cheerful request and sighed. Off to the compound, huh…

\---

Sasuke shoved the last slice of tomato into his mouth and stretched languidly, happy that he'd been able to coerce his teacher into buying the delicious red fruit for him yesterday. It had made his day…although the fact that they were almost done cleaning up the compound helped a lot. They'd taken down all the slashed Uchiha insignia and repaired most of the stands and stalls in the street, as well. He'd also noticed Naruto eyeing some of the rooms in the houses – it was no wonder, as the boy's own apartment was miniature in comparison – and took that as a sign from the gods. He'd get Naruto a good place, no matter what. The idiot deserved it after all he'd gone through.

Unfolding himself from under the low table in the kitchen, Sasuke turned as he felt a distinct chakra enter the house.

"Sasuke? It's Kakashi. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Sasuke padded toward the door and yelled a short response into the hallway. "Be my guest."

Kakashi caught up with his wayward student as the boy entered the family room. "Hey, nice job you've done with the complex. I was one of the ANBU on the initial cleaning crew after the…massacre…but we couldn't do that much without your consent, so it pretty much stayed the way it was, sans residents..." he trailed off. "Sorry. Memories, you know?"

Sasuke grimaced. "It happens. Go on. And I've already been informed as to the full truth of Itachi's mission, so there's no need to tell me about that."

Kakashi smiled. So far, so good. "Well…Tsunade hasn't gotten back to you about Itachi's condition, has she?"

A shake of the head was all he needed. The flash of worried eyes was just icing on the cake.

"Itachi will probably make a full recovery – well, as full as one can get after having your spinal cord nearly severed – anywhere from a couple months to a couple years. Our delightful Hokage told me to tell you that it was only by he grace of the kamis that you weren't enough of an idiot to kill him before he got medical help, by the way. But she decided that you probably have enough on your plate as it is, so she's assigning a fellow nin to help out with Itachi during his convalescence. Someone who knows him well enough to be comfortable around him."

Sasuke's eyes flashed dangerously. "You?"

The one-eyed jounin grinned meekly, scratching his head in a very Obito-like gesture. "Uh, yeah. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I'm stuck here until Tsunade pronounces him fully able to take care of himself."

Sasuke groaned. "Joy. You can put your shit in one of the other houses later and set up in one of the guest rooms here for the next few months. Now go away," he sighed, rubbing his forehead. "This is too much to deal with; you're more of a pain in the ass than all my fangirls combined."

\---

\--


	12. A Walk Around Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wow, twelve chapters just to get to the title. That may be a new record.

_\- Timeskip: Four Months Later -_

Life had been going smoothly, for the most part _._ Kakashi had settled into one of the Uchiha Mansion's guest rooms with little difficulty; Itachi had been installed into his old room with few complaints on anyone's part. Sasuke's reaction had been the most surprising thing about the arrangement; If Itachi went somewhere, so did his little brother. But if you took the size of the mansion into consideration, well… It was true that the old home was truly a large structure, but when you were attempting to help your old teammate to the bathroom and a teenager started to get into your way in order to provide his twisted version of help, it got fairly annoying. The boy had also developed a jealous streak to the point where Kakashi didn't even attempt to help Itachi eat or even prepare food anymore – If he tried, Sasuke would just snatch the dinnerware out of his hands smoothly and take over. It was very disorienting, especially since back when they were part of Team Kakashi Sasuke wouldn't even so much as look at the food before it was in front of him.

Kakashi hadn't even known the young raven could cook.  
But Itachi had, apparently, and he'd quietly warned the masked nin that this might happen. No matter what Sasuke did, his older brother took it in stride – while seated, of course – and calmly exuded a pleased aura.

Speaking of people annoying Kakashi, Iruka had decided a while ago that he was wholly and completely in love with the copy nin. Unfortunately, Kakashi was suitably uninterested, and proceeded to ignore the chuunin for two months until he finally broke down and plopped the teacher in front of Sakura for a good student-to-teacher talk about getting over people who were persistently _not_ in love with you and were never going to be. It had worked so far, but the silver-haired man was always expecting Iruka to pop up around random corners and hug him to pieces again. It was nerve-wracking to the extreme, but had slowly begun to recede.

Naruto had also taken advantage of the emptiness of the Uchiha compound after Sasuke had offered his best friend one of the houses. He'd snapped it up on the spot after realizing that this had been the reason his friend had made them clean the extra houses. Leaving behind his ratty old apartment had been relieving, and turning in his key to the landlord had made him so happy that he'd run to Sasuke and swept him up in a great hug, spinning him around a total of three times before Sasuke recovered from surprise and punched him with an almost-hidden smile.

Yes, life had been going well. The occasional mission here, some house chores there, a little Icha Icha all around…. "Give that back!"

Itachi glared at him from his seat at the kitchen table, waving a bright orange book in the air. "No."

Kakashi's eyes widened at his teammate's obstinance, reaching out. "Itachi! I need that! Come on…"

The heir swatted away his gloved hand promptly. "If I give this back to you, you have to take me outside on a walk. It doesn't have to be very long, I just want to look around the village a little and get some dango."

The older ninja sighed and sat down, crossing his legs and leaning back on his hands. "Itachi…."

The Uchiha watched him flatly and opened his mouth. "Kakashi, I'm perfectly capable of taking a short walk. Tsunade didn't assign you here for me to be babied. She put you here to help Sasuke out with taking care of me. That does not mean confining me to sitting and lying down and serving my every need. I understand that I almost died and you may or may not feel some obligation to protect me now that I'm back, but I'm still a capable member of ANBU and most certainly an adult and my own person. You can relax a little. So do you want it or not?"

His fellow ANBU slumped and sighed, holding a hand out to his friend. "Fine….now give it. And if I see you falter in any way, shape, or form, I'm bringing you back and giving you enough sedatives to knock you out for the rest of the month. And that does not mean you should cover up any weakness or pain you have or feel. Clear?"

"Crystal, senpai. Now let us leave this infernal house." Itachi pushed up from the table and walked slowly to the door, not wincing once but clearly eager to escape from the confines of his childhood home.

Kakashi processed his words slowly before a thought occurred to him.  
Nobody had brought it up or even realized it, but it probably hadn't been the best idea to put Itachi in the house where he'd unwillingly murdered his parents. They hadn't given it a second thought because Sasuke had been fine with the memories surrounding him, but it was clear to him now that Itachi reacted very differently, even if he didn't show it. He had always hated killing in the first place, so living in the very complex where he'd been forced to massacre two hundred plus members of his very own family undoubtedly had had a negative impact on his psyche.  
Maybe it wasn't that good of an idea to go out today?

_It would probably be better to keep him here until he breaks and then let him out once he gets over it, but I can tell he really needs this right now, so I've really given myself no choice._

Catching himself as he heard the creak of the door sliding open, he pulled himself out of his overwhelmingly depressing thoughts and ran to the door, getting there in time to slip outside next to Itachi as the screen slid shut. "You…"

The recuperating nin ignored the frustrated man and walked down the main road of the compound, clearly avoiding looking at the buildings.

 _Yeah, he really wants to get out of here, that's for sure…_ Kakashi sighed and grabbed Itachi as smoothly as he could, shunshining them to the edge of the main square. Itachi nooded a brief thanks and pushed away, turning to survey the surroundings. He hadn't gotten a good look at Konoha the first time around, seeing as he'd been severely wounded and concentrating on only one thing.

Kakashi reached up to scratch his hair absentmindedly. "If you want, we can get dango first or we can go check out the market..?"

The Uchiha tilted his head to look at his friend and licked his lips discreetly. "Dango, definitely dango. Kisame didn't really like it all that much, so the only time we had it was on the mission that we came to Konoha to retrieve Naruto that first time."

Kakashi grinned under his mask; he'd fully expected that. "The old dango shop you liked is still around the corner by the Tower, but we might meet Anko, if that's alright with you?"

"That's perfectly fine."

Venturing into the shop took a good amount of Kakashi's courage; Anko had the odd tendency to knock him flat every time he came here.

…Or not. Maybe she'd gotten bored.

"Oh wow, Itachi! I haven't seen you in so long! The last time we got dango together was ages ago! What kind do you want?"

Itachi lifted an eyebrow at the dangerously hyperactive kunoichi confusedly.

Anko paused and then grinned snakily. "Right. I should know better than to ask. Hey! Genma! Raido! Izumo! Kotetsu! Get over here and talk to Mr. Undercover Uchiha while I get us some dango!"

The aforementioned group perked up and swarmed over to Kakashi and Itachi. "Hey, guys. Glad to see you're out of the house, Itachi; we've been wanting to say welcome back!"

Itachi crossed his arms and snorted in a very un-Uchiha-like way. "Genma, you just want to know all the delicious details of all the millions of kunoichi I laid."

The senbon fell out of the man's mouth. " _Really?"_

Itachi smacked him. "No, Genma, I'm gay. They were all men."

" _Really?_ "

The raven just stared at the chuunin disbelievingly.

Izumo scratched his head and chuckled. "What he means to say is 'welcome back', Itachi-san. We're glad you're healed up and back with us. Especially Kakashi, I should think; he never really believed you had betrayed us like that."

Kakashi snorted softly from behind the orange hardback. _Because I knew the truth, idiot. But thanks for the vote of confidence._

Itachi nodded at his old friend and thanked him. "It's a very nice feeling, to be welcomed back to your home again after being scorned for so many years."

Izumo frowned slightly, worried as to where the conversation was going. "Well, congratulations on the recovery, but we'll have to get together sometime to talk about everything – we all have a mission coming up so we'd better get going. Nice to see you again, though!" He grabbed Genma and walked out, the rest following him.

Kakashi lifted an eyebrow at Genma's cheeky wave. "Shall we go to the market? We might find some tomatoes for Sasuke; he certainly likes them enough."

The tradeoff with the perverted chuunin seemed to have tired him, but Itachi nodded an affirmative and walked outside the shop with Anko's last stick of dango in his hand.

They walked around for a little while, simply watching the vendors and hagglers sell and buy while the younger man finished off the dango.

Kakashi pointed him to a trash can for the stick and sighed. "Ready to go back yet?"

Itachi ignored him – once again – in favor of a little girl. She'd tripped on a bag of rice next to her mother's stall and was on the ground crying over a skinned knee. The recently recovered ninja walked slowly over to the girl and kneeled down with some difficulty. "Are you alright?"

Kakashi watched guardedly as the little girl answered a negative, afraid his old friend might collapse.

The raven reached out and pushed the girls hands away from her knee gently, uncovering a raw patch of skin beginning to seep blood. "Here." He activated a rudimentary healing jutsu and fixed up the injury in seconds as the mother watched on nervously. "Does that feel better?"

The little girl's brown pigtails bobbed happily as she gave him a small thumbs up and grinned. "Thank you, onii-san! It doesn't hurt anymore!"

Kakashi walked over to the two worriedly as Itachi stiffened. Watching the kid's face grow nervous, he crouched down next to the man and jerked back. "Itachi. Itachi! Hey!" Grabbing his shoulders harshly, he shook the Uchiha as the girl's mother pulled her out of the way anxiously.

Itachi finally looked up and met his eyes, pale as could be. "…Kashi…?"

The silver-haired man let go of his friend. "You're crying, Itachi."

The heir's eyes widened as he brought his fingers up to feel the tears that were coursing down his face. "Oh…? Oh! No! No! Nooooo!" He bent double and folded to the ground, sobbing softly.

Kakashi took in a breath.

_God damnit. He broke!_

\---

\--


	13. Let it All Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Better get a bucket, here come Manly Tears part II.

Acting as fast as he could, he grabbed his teammate and shunshined them to Itachi's room with a single handsign. Completing the jutsu again, he shifted downstairs and knocked Sasuke against the wall. "You. Go to Tsunade and tell her that your brother broke, and then don't come back until I say you can. Go sleep at Naruto's house or something, but just make sure that you and everybody else stays away – even Ibiki, if he asks. Itachi's extraordinarily fragile right now and I need to tread carefully; I can't have any distractions. Got it?"

The younger brother stared aghast at his old teacher for a second before nodding quickly and leaving the house at top speed, chakra flaring all over the place in anxiety.

Pausing to place a hand on his chest and restrain his own power, Kakashi attempted to relax his body. He wouldn't be of any use to his teammate if he couldn't control himself. Removing his hand, he started toward the stairs as fast as he could, taking them three at a time and coming to a stop in front of Itachi's room. Sliding the door open soundlessly, he stepped in and closed it behind him, glancing to where the Uchiha was curled up on the bed and making small noises that sounded too much like sobbing for the ANBU's comfort.

"…Itachi?"

A whimper.

Walking over to the bed, Kakashi knelt down and went to remove the raven's jacket, but was stopped suddenly when his partner began thrashing out frightenedly and moaning. "No! Get off me! Please! Just…just….no… _please_ …"

The silver-haired man leapt back as if burned. Why would Itachi…unless…oh, god.

_I'd always thought he dealt with the constant rape on his own and managed to work through it, but this… If I want to work with him, I need to distance myself as far as possible from what he's used to, both physically and mentally._

Standing up, Kakashi pulled off his metal-plated gloves and dropped them on the floor along with his forehead protector. His flak vest and shoes followed soon after and his mask came off last. Running a hand through his hair and stepping forward once again, he bent down and sat on the bed next to the still-thrashing Itachi. "Come on, kid, I'm not here to do anything to you. I'm only going to help, alright?" Receiving a tight nod from his trembling friend, he slowly laid down on the covers next to the raven. It was obvious that Itachi didn't believe him and was trying to brace himself for what he predicted would come next, but all the elder did was stroke his hand through the jet-black hair. Itachi stilled and when he felt the comforting fingers again he cracked open an eye. Seeing a cloth-covered expanse of chest, he retreated back until his spine hit the wall on the other side of the bed.  
Kakashi only sighed and continued his ministrations from a distance. "Relax, Itachi. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want you to be comfortable." Brushing away a tear, he dragged a thumb over the other's cheek and shifted closer, moving his hand to Itachi's back and caressing wide circles over the pressure points to get him to relax more.

Muscles loosening under the other nin's obvious care and affection, Itachi opened his eyes fully to take in who was treating him so nicely. He'd blanked out and still didn't know where he was, but the other person felt familiar. "Ka…Kakashi…? Oh!" Eyes widening, he scooted closer to his elder and wrapped his arms around the man's chest, pulling himself into the loving warmth. "You're here…"

"I've always been here, Itachi, and I always will. Unfortunately, this is my fault and I should never have let you go on those solo missions years ago." Placing his arms around the smaller figure, he realized a tear was making its way down his own face in tandem with the one leaving its track on Itachi's pale skin..

"They…they just did whatever they wanted, Senpai….they took everything and left me nothing but information, and am I bad for thinking I'd rather have kept what was mine instead of what was theirs, Kashi…? It hurt, and they wouldn't stop. And then it happened again, and again….Over and over, their grabbing hands and fingers and _everything_ ….it hurt….it hurt so badly. I wanted you, or Ibiki, or both of you to come save me and just _take me so far away_ from there, from my responsibility, from my missions, from the _pain…!_ " Sobbing, he curled in more. "I wanted to stop, to leave, to abandon everything. So many times I wanted to, but I knew I had to do it. And even with that, I wanted to escape!"

Kakashi's eyes widened. Itachi had been hiding far too much from them over the years, and it was obvious that he'd been keeping in these pain-filled emotions, so out of character for the normally sensible shinobi.

"And then I left Konoha. I entered Akatsuki, with your wishes keeping me safe and the hope that the abuse I had gone through would finally end. But by the end of the first week my partner had already taken advantage of me and done exactly what I'd been trying to forget about! All through my life I've been treated the same, and I tried to make up for it by being a good ninja. But it's happened so many times, and I'm sick of it! They hurt me and treat me like a mute doll with no feelings… _It hurts._ "

Kakashi ran a comforting hand down the Uchiha's back and murmured comfort. "Your body has grown used to the pain, but in your mind it is always fresh."

Itachi buried his head in the blue softness of Kakashi's shirt and the crying began anew. " _Yes…"_

The Hatake shook his head and went on rubbing the fragile man's back, providing comfort through his pain and staying silent because he had nothing he could say that would provide any peace of mind. The only option was to let the prodigy cry himself out, to let his have this time of weakness before he had to get back onto his feet and fight once more.

They stayed in the same position, one pressed to the other, far into the night. And when Itachi's tears had finally dried and he had calmed, they fell asleep wrapped in each other's arms.

\---

\--


	14. Acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I swear, it wasn't as whirlwind as it seems.

Blinking and yawning, Kakashi sluggishly woke up in the face of a bright sunbeam coming in through the window. Turning over to avoid it, he came face to face with the man he'd spent the night comforting. Studying the pale visage and tracing the lines on his cheeks with his eyes, he came upon something that promptly stunned him.

Itachi was smiling in his sleep.

_I suppose last night really helped him, then. He's needed to break for far too long, and letting it out was the best thing. But to smile…I don't think I've seen him smile since he was a small child. What a surprise._

The soft curve of the lips did wonders for Kakashi's previously turbulent emotions. It changed and made the Uchiha's already-handsome face into something fit for a god.

"Thank you, Kakashi."

The silver-haired nin started. "You were awake?"

"Of course. And I have to thank you for what you did last night. Supporting me, comforting me, accepting me…I've always admired you for your skills, and now I also admire you for being _you_. For being there for me when I broke. You didn't have to do that, you know."

Kakashi frowned and turned over again so he was lying on his back. "But I did, Itachi. It's the same with me really. I always admired you for your skills, but I didn't want you to get caught in the same problems I had as a child genius as well. It's why I requested for you to be placed on my team in ANBU. Of course, after a few missions with you I realized that your emotions went far beyond what I had expected, and I learned to like you for being yourself as well, when we were out of sight of the village. All these years I've missed you. I had to restrain myself from going to Akatsuki myself to retrieve you."

Itachi's eyes widened. "You…missed me?"

Watching the dark lashes flitter over pale skin, Kakashi smiled softly. "Yes, of course. I love talking to an educated presence with its own strong ideals. We don't get many of those around here, especially with Genma scaring them all off."

The raven's forehead creased, as if he had been expecting something else to come out of his partner's mouth. "Just because of that…?"

The older man sat up and shook his head, leaning over the younger. "Of course not. I missed you not only because you're smart and I like your personality, but because I love you, Itachi." Bending over the Uchiha, he stroked the smooth cheek and brought his head up to meet his lips in a soft kiss. Staying like that for a second, he parted and sat back up. "I care about you more than I do anyone else. I would do anything for you, and it pains me to see you like you were last night."

Trembling fingers lifted to pass over pink lips as if to feel the ghost of Kakashi's on his own. Sitting up on his knees to make up for the height difference, Itachi smiled and nodded before threading his fingers through the silver mane and pressing his lips to the Hatake's once more.

\---

The sound of pacing feet echoed through the office over and over again. "I can't believe it, Kakashi. And after all you told me about recovery periods lasting a week or more! To be fine after only a day…Uchiha, you really are a prodigy."

Kakashi scratched his mask absently. "Sorry about that, Hokage-sama. I really didn't expect this either. I hope Sasuke didn't scare you too much?"

Tsunade turned around from her place at the window and plopped back into her chair. "It's the other way around. I had to give that brat a sedative so he'd sleep at all. You really had him terrified there. What did you do, slam him against a wall and threaten him?"

"Pretty close."

The lady Hokage rolled her eyes and sighed. "Great. That's a five-star policy you've got there. Terrify your students so they'll listen." Leaning over her desk and folding her hands together, she switched topics abruptly. "So, Itachi, now that you're completely recovered, do you want to tell me why those Rock nin attacked you and your partner before Kakashi found you?"

The Uchiha waited a moment as if attempting to gather his thoughts before speaking. "It is my opinion that they were simply attempting to prove their strength, or possibly the strength of their village. By going after a missing-nin that Konoha had been hunting unsuccessfully for almost a decade, they could demonstrate that Iwa was superior. A show of power, if you will."

Tsunade leaned back, contemplating what Itachi said. "That does make sense. They obviously didn't succeed, though, so good for you and well done. But on another note, I've figured out what the power you used was."

Itachi frowned, confused. "Power?"

Kakashi interrupted softly. "You exuded some sort of yellow chakra to erase the jutsu's effects on me after we were ambushed. I had asked Hokage-sama if she could find out what it was."

At his nod, the blonde continued. "I looked it up and couldn't find anything, so I sent a message to Jiraiya to see if he knew. Turns out he knew immediately – it was nature chakra that saved you. You must have unconsciously tapped into the lifestream of the plants around you and drew it out to help Kakashi. Worked wonderfully, too, according to his report."

Kakashi nodded."Thank you, my lady. If we're done…?"

"Yeah, sure, dismissed and whatnot. I think I've got a stash of sake around here somewhere that Shizune never found. Have fun celebrating your recovery!"

Smiling, Itachi shook his head and leapt out the window. Kakashi followed, and with a few jumps the two came to the mountain with the carved heads jutting out below them. Sitting down, they made themselves comfortable and leaned back in the grass to enjoy the sunlight.

Kakashi drew an arm up to shield his eyes from the brightness. "You know, of all the things that could have happened over the past few months, this was the last thing I would've guessed."

"It may be the last thing for you, but it is certainly the best thing for me," Itachi moved closer to the copy-nin and enveloped him in a soft cuddle. "I can't think of anything I would enjoy more than being here with you, appreciating nature and Konoha and everything I've missed these past few years."

Kakashi shifted into a more comfortable position on the soft blades of grass and drew the Uchiha even closer to him. "Shhh, Itachi. Let's just enjoy this here, with nobody else around and no responsibilities clamoring for our attention. It's just us, you and me, my love and yours."

The raven smiled gently, closing his eyes. "Yes. You and me. Forever."

\---

\--


End file.
